Borrowed Time
by Triforceelf
Summary: Thirty years ago, Sean O'Leary was pulled into the Mass Effect universe. For twenty years he held his peace, believing Shepard would save the galaxy. He was wrong. Now, Sean has a chance for redemption. Dr. Liara T'soni has performed a miracle and sent herself, Sean, and the Normandy to Earth in the year 1988. This time, Sean and Liara know what is at stake. But will anyone listen?
1. Chapter 1

**Sean**

Pulling my face out of the dirt, I quickly wiped my visor down.

"Systems check." I spat, activating my omnitool. I glanced at the readouts Mark, my geth AI, gave me. Everything looked green, my vitals were pretty good too.

"Now to figure out where the hell I am." I glanced around. I was in a wooded thicket of some sort, and the sun was circling overhead. It looked like the place.

"O'Leary to Normandy. O'Leary to Normandy, respond please." Nothing. Still, that was almost to be expected. Who knew when Liara's contraption would bring them here? Or if it would.

I started jogging and noticed I felt pretty damn good. Better than I had since I hit 50 anyway. Or hell, even 40. I swung my arms a bit, not even the least bit sore even after doing a face plant into the dirt. I looked down, but my standard Alliance kit looked the same as always. Dented and care worn, like it had been through hell. Which it had really, the Reapers were the closest I ever wanted to come to damnation.

Before long I made my way out of the ticket and spied an asphalt road. Cars, ground cars ran along it. They looked old but new, if that makes any sense. Old as in they looked like they came from the 20th century, new as if I was in the 20th century. Which considering I was supposed to be in the 20th century, was probably a good thing.

Several slowed down as they passed me, before a cop turn his lights on and pulled over.

Anchorage PD, I read on the side. Figures, that was where I was born after all.

"Morning officer." I said as he stepped out, saluting him. Technically I guess he was a civilian, but it had been so long since I saw anybody that wasn't military in some capacity I just had the habit.

"Ah, good morning. Who exactly are you?" The officer asked, squinting at me and fingering his gun. Like a chemical round spitter like that could pierce my barriers or armor.

"Flight Lieutenant Sean O'Leary, Systems Alliance Resistance. May I ask what year it is?"

"Er, 1988. Are you out of Elmendorf Airforce Base or something Lieutenant?"

"No, I'm attached to the SR2 Normandy, Project REDEMTION. Thank you for the information Officer, "I checked his name tag, "Lloyd. I'm going to have to commandeer yourself and your transportation. I need to get to the Anchorage airport ASAP, military matters. You can have your ground car back when I get there."

"Under who's authorization?" Officer Lloyd spluttered.

"Under Systems Alliance Protocol W-23, in the event of an active conflict an officer of the military is entitled to commandeer civilian transport and enlist the assistance of the citizenry to ensure the safety of the body."

"I uh, OK, but I've got to clear it with dispatch."

"This is top secret officer. No time. Let's move."

I climbed in the car and Lloyd reluctantly got in and started driving. I continued to hail the Normandy as I scanned for satellites. There were a few, and they were easy enough to hack, but they didn't really have any of the data or boosting I needed. Hell, they were so primitive it would have actually harder to use as a signal booster then my omnitool.

"So are the Russians invading?" Lloyd demanded, sweat popping out on his puffy face. He was a tad overweight, something I hadn't seen in humans in a long time. If you got ration bars you were happy.

"Can't explain, but this is the highest level of threat." I sternly told him, "Put your lights on."

He complied and sped down the highway, and I went back to trying to locate the Normandy.

"Come on Doctor, this has to work." I muttered to myself, "We can let those communist sons of bitches win."

The communist part was for Lloyds benefit. I was pretty sure at this point Russians were communists, and they were the bad guys in... This was the United States right? Damn, I hadn't been in the US for almost 30 years. Hell, when I was from it hadn't EXISTED in 100 or so.

My remark hit the spot, and we picked up even more speed as Lloyd radioed for a corridor to be cleared. Dispatch got a little upset, until I got on, hacked their radio system and made them think I was some sort of US Air Force Colonel. That got their attention, and Mark had fun fielding their calls and misdirecting them. They didn't even realize it was a geth, though admittedly they probably would have just called it a robot or some nonsense like that.

"These organics systems are even more primitive then I was lead to believe." Mark said.

"Hell Mark, they're still using vacuum tubes I think. Circuitry is about 6 years away."

"Can we really use this to help stop the Reapers?"

"Not back home," Funny, because this was home for me, but not how I thought of it anymore, "But we can stop them here."

"Anything to kill the old machines." Mark agreed, then went back to focusing on playing phone tag.

We got to the airport in what I figured was record time, and a whole mess of people were waiting for me. As if on cue, my comm crackled to life.

"...Anyone there? Is Earth? Goddess, my screen is blank, there's nothing there! Doctor, are you sure it-"

"This is O'Leary. I read you Normandy, securing a landing zone. Lock on to my signal, Mark will guide you in."

Liara jumped on the comm. "Thank the Goddess! O'Leary, did it work? Where are we? When are we?"

"Earth, 1988. It worked Doctor."

Liara paused for a moment, then started up with the technobabble. "But you were born in 1989, how could... Ah, humans have a 9 month gestation period, I imagine that we were transported back to the very beginning of your lifespan! This if fascinating, perhaps if I chose an asari subject and reconfigured-"

I sighed. "Doc, you're machine got me. I don't know why, but it did. We've bought ourselves about 150 years. It will have to be enough."

"Yes, of course. Forgive me, I get distracted sometimes."

"We'll talk later." I turned back to the perplexed airport administrator staring at me.

"Talking to yourself?" He asked.

"Nope, built in communicator to the helmet. You need to clear a landing pad, and call out the press. First Contact is about to happen right here."

"First contact? What you mean like ET or something?"

"No, asari, krogan, geth, EDI, salarians, quarians and turians. Roll out the red carpet buddy, this is your lucky day. Anchorage is about to be famous."

"How do I know that this is real? You could have made that costume from-"

I lost patience and drew my gun and activated my omnitool.

"Mark, seize control of their systems."

"I can't Sean." Mark said, forming a hologram beside me, "I can only fool their radios. Everything else is a hard line, none of it is networked."

"Oh, right." I muttered. Wireless wouldn't be around for what, 20 years? I forgot about that one.

"HOLY SHIT IT'S A ROBOT!" Someone yelled.

"I am geth." Mark admonished, "And technically, I am not a robot unless I am on a mobile platform. I exist only as software."

"Are you an alien?" The administrator demanded.

"No," I sighed, "I'm human. Now get me that landing pad, the SR2 is coming, ready or not."

There was a flurry of activity as that. As it turned out, the Normandy had made its entrance somewhere over Australia, so it didn't take them long to fly over Alaska. It was escaping notice so far, even though Liara probably wasn't bothering with the stealth drives. At least that's what I thought until I talked to some Air Force General.

"Are you telling me that's a space ship on our radar, not an ICBM from the Russians?" Someone called General Murphy demanded.

"Yes sir, it's the SR2 Normandy."

"So it's an extra terrestrial vassal? Some sort of UFO?"

"No sir, the SR2 was refit by the Alliance on Earth, so it's not extra-terrestrial. It's also not unidentified, I'm giving you it's registry now."

"God dammit do you have any idea what you've done! Washington and Moscow are ready to blow us all to hell and gone."

I glanced over at the assembled press out on the tarmac. "Tell them to tune in to the Anchorage news. The SR2 lands in 5."

"I haven't authorized-"

"Fuck you sir. I'm pulling rank. A Systems Alliance Lieutenant outranks any order of officer on a local militia."

"What!? How dare you-"

I stabbed the phone with my omnitool and implanted a chip, slaving it to Mark. "General says it's a go."  
I told the administrator, "You can talk to him now." Technically he could talk to Mark miming the general, but he didn't need to know that.

"That was liberating." Mark commented, "These humans seem a lot harder to work with then the ones from before. "

"That's because before they were scared of the Reapers. Now they're scared of us. But that'll change."

I wasn't quite sure what the press was expecting, because they were keeping well clear of the runway that had been cleared for the Normandy. I didn't feel like explaining that it was a VTOL, and just stood out in front of the cameras. It was all local news reporters babbling away about what was happening and what a stir I caused. They all shut up when the Normandy arrived.

The asari pilot was pretty hot stuff I had to admit. Not as good as Jeff Moreau had been I'm sure, but better then a freight hauler like myself. She streaked the Normandy straight down from atmo and stood her on her tail, sending a blast of wind and a scream of engines and mass effect fields to buffer us. I ignored it, crash landings like that were the norm in reaper occupied territory, and I had done a few myself. Not as gracefully mind, but just as dramatic.

The whole airport seemed to be holding its breath. The loading ramp hissed open, and EDI Moreau walked out.

She raised her hand and made the Vulcan greeting sign. "We come in peace." She stated seriously, then leaned her head towards me. "Shoot to kill."

Someone let out a strangled sound, and I think everyone would have panicked if I hadn't started laughing.

"Come on EDI, we need to be serious. Saving the galaxy and all?" I chuckled. Still, that had been a pretty good one.

"That was a joke." She informed the press.

Before they could decided what to do, the refugees started pouring off the Normandy. Turians, quarians, salarians, asari, krogan, and humans all stumbled off the ramp. Some were rare intact family units, others were just desperate people we had cobbled together on Feros. Sadly, the few hundred people represented most of the survivors of the Feros refugee camps, maybe the last few non-indoctrinated living beings around from that time.

Their torn, bloodied clothes and injuries got the presses attention and I turned to the emergency responders I had ordered assemble at the strip, doctors and EMTs mostly. "Right, you're all newbies. Don't treat anyone who isn't human, and don't treat anyone who refuses treatment. Your job is to provide food, water and medical supplies. Follow the directions of anyone in a uniform who isn't from around here. Get cracking."

Immediately they rushed to get to work, clearly seeing the need. There were more refugees on board, only the walking wounded and uninjured had gotten off. Geth primes directed traffic and helped provide treatment, and surprisingly the newbies followed orders, even if they did come from a three meter tall killing machine.

Next off was Dr. T'soni, who went with EDI over to the press. I nodded and turned to deal with managing the refugees.

"Liara needs you Sean." A tired Urdnot Bakara told me, "Go, I can manage this."

"What does she need me for?" I asked, confused.

Smiling, Bakara answered, "You're our link. This is your time, your people. Go."

The hell I was. I was more at home in the 22nd century, Reapers and all. But I had a duty, so I turned and headed back to the press.

"Fuck me sideways." I sighed, "This is gonna be a long day."

**Liara**

Earth. I had been here before of course, in London for Operation Hammer. Our last great resistance. We failed. Shepard never made it to the Crucible. I watched him die as I was med evaced by the Normandy, shot dead by a Marauder. To have come so far and failed... But we didn't give up. We never stopped fighting.

Our fleets were decimated, our greatest heroes were dead. Tali, Wrex, Javik, Ashley, and of course my heart, Shepard. All dead. Admiral Hackett had died as well, and the scattered remnants of civilization got ready to fall to the Reapers.

It was a blow that was strangely long in coming. And that hesitation gave us time. I saw the principles of the Crucible, and how to improve them, how to change them, how to use them without a so called Catalyst. And most importantly, how to miniaturize them. With that much energy, I could do anything except actually destroy the Reapers. With our defeat assured, I turned to the once place where I knew victory was still possible: The past.

With Garrus now in overall command of the remaining resistance, everything was funneled into my project. I activated it, but realized I was missing something. A link to the past, a beacon to guide the way. I called forth someone, Sean O'Leary. He was not my intended target, but he would work. After years of effort, I had finally succeeded. Just as the Reapers descended upon us I sent the Normandy filled with the last remnants of our civilization back in time as Garrus and the few remaining warships sold themselves to give us a window to escape.

But now that we were here, I did not know what to do. These humans were not the humanity I had known. They were primitive at best, according to Sean this was over 150 years before the Battle of the Citadel. I prayed it was enough time.

"So are you really an alien?" One of the human reporters ask.

"Yes, I am asari. I come from the planet Thessia. With me are krogan of Tuchanka, quarians and geth of Rannoch, salarians of Sur'Kesh, turians of Palaven, and humans of Earth. But we are not of your time. We are refugees of a terrible war from the future. In the coming days, I will ask that Earth do what it did in our time: Arise to the greatest challenge the galaxy has ever faced. A terrible foe, machines ancient and powerful beyond reckoning descended upon us and destroyed us, as they have countless civilizations before. We could not defeat them in our own era, so we traveled back to give ourselves time to prepare. With us we have brought technology we will freely share with all the peoples of Earth. We ask that your differences be put aside and you stand united with us. As my companion Sean O'Leary, who is of your time can tell you, humanity too was destroyed by our Enemy the Reapers."

I turned to Sean, and he stepped forward, taking off his helmet and tucking it under his arm. I was shocked for a moment, then composed myself. He was young. The Sean I had known was in his matron stage in human terms, about 53 years old. This Sean could not have been more then 20.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I come with dire news. Our future is under threat. In 150 years, an ancient race of machines known as Reapers will attack the Earth. I myself barely escaped the first Battle of Earth, and I saw the destruction they wrought. Our cities burned. Our people were harvested and turned into abominations that killed their own children. Our fleets were broken, our armies slaughtered. But now we have a chance. We did not know the Reapers were coming, we had only 2 years warning and few believed the early signs. But now we have a chance. We can jump our technology forward a 1000 years and unite the races of the galaxy. We can find Sovereign and destroy him. We can sabotage the Mass Relays that the Reapers used to destroy us. We can find the Citadel and destroy the Star Child. This time, we can win."

He stopped and nodded, and for the second time I wondered what this "Star Child" was. He had spoke of it to me before, though we had only known each other for a few weeks. Sean had been called forward, but I had not been precise in my initial calculations. He had arrived on Earth fully 22 years before Sovereign attacked the Citadel. Somehow, he had known the Reapers were coming through a strange form of premonition or vision he had had while called forward. He had done all he could to prepare, joining the Alliance Military and training to fight. But one man was not enough, as Shepard had proven.

EDI and Luke, the leader of the geth stepped forward to field questions from the reporters. Sean motioned to me, and I stepped close so he could whisper in my ear.

"We've got to meet with Washington and Moscow. This is a blessing, there are two competing superpowers. If we give our tech to both, they'll race each other to see who can have the biggest and best dreadnaught. We can unite them once we show them the prothean ruins on Mars and the Charon Relay. I have a plan, but I need to talk with you alone about it. For now, we just rally support. Come on, I'll get us a line to the President and whatever they call the Russian leader. Primer or something I think."

I nodded, too tired to really consider everything. I was still young, but the years of constant war had taken their toll on me. I hadn't really planned past coming to the past and escaping the Reapers. So many dead, so many who would never see this day.

David lead me over to a frightened looking human. "Get me a line to the President."

"You mean President Reagan?"

"No, President Castro. Of course President Reagan! We're in America, aren't we?"

I was certain that Sean was asking a serious question, he claimed to have forgotten a great deal and this was technically before he was ever born.

"Um, right away." He scampered off, leaving Sean and I to our own devices.

"Damn. Can't believe I'm back on Earth. Never thought I'd see it again. Not alive anyway."

"And I can't believe this worked. I have a question for you though, what is the star child?"

"The Reaper's master, more or less. It's an ancient AI. Lives on the Citadel."

"Goddess, you mean this whole time..."

"Yeah. Which is why we can't just run off, activate the Charon Relay and tell the galaxy the Reapers are coming. Sovereign is out there, and the Star Child is watching. We're going to have to be sneaky. Like I said, I have a plan, but I'll need to run it by you and the other leaders. I'm just a grunt."

"No, you're the highest ranking member of the Alliance Military still alive." I corrected him, smiling despite my exhaustion. Sean was such a humble, unassuming sort. Bakara probably had to tell him he was needed, he likely would have found the dirtiest job available and started doing it. "I think that means you quality as a leader."

"Huh. Never thought about it that way. Kinda depressing when a Lieutenant is the highest rank left."

"We're in good hands." I assured him. And we were, Sean had come to Ferros smuggling two dozen asari children from a colony that the Reapers had attacked. Against all odds, he had risked himself and his rickety old transport just to save a few more lives. It had been daring and clever, he had gone in ballistic and timed his exit so he was covered by the launch of several dozen anti-air missiles, disguising his emission to match the missiles own. He had barely escaped, but because of him there were two dozen little ones among the refugees. Perhaps the last seeds of Thessia.

No. I couldn't think that way. Thessia was out there, alive and well. My mother was out there, with my father. I hadn't even been born yet. Strange, for someone who was now 124.

"Sir, ma'am, the Vice President's on the phone. The President was unavailable."A human said, one of the new ones. Or old ones. Goddess, time travel was confusing.

"Close enough," I sighed, and motioned for the woman to lead on.

We followed her to a room with a phone. Sean stabbed it with his omnitool so everyone in the room could hear.

"Mr. Vice President, I'm First Admiral Sean O'Leary. With me is Dr. Liara T'soni, the leader of the asari. They're one of the species of aliens who landed on the Normandy. I hope we can catch you up with events."

The promotion Sean had given himself brought another smile to my lips. Perhaps I would smile more now that we had a chance against the Reapers. It made sense though, and would help us rally the nations of the world.

"That would be excellent, Admiral O'Leary. I confess, I wasn't expecting to have aliens landing in my country today." The voice on the telephone drawled. President Bush, I assumed.

"Now remind me, your Bush Senior, not G W Bush. You were President after Reagan but before Clinton." Sean said, leaning over the phone.

"I am Bush the Senior yes. You mean to tell me I become President, and Junior does as well? And that hick from Alabama really succeeds me?"

"You do become President in my time sir. GW Bush did succeed you, maybe not anymore. Junior did take the country through a bad time. Terrorists hit the World Trade Center in New York on September 11, 2001. Killed about 3000 people. Probably won't happen now, but he was a good President. Clinton was OK I guess, he's not really remembered that well."

That wasn't Sean's personal bias, I could tell from the way he chose his worlds. He was manipulating the President by praising his son and damning the man Bush obviously disliked.

"Well I'll be damned. Always thought it would be Jeb that followed me. But we're not here to talk about my family."

"No sir, we are not. Dr. T'soni brought complete technical readouts of everything you're going to need to kickstart the war on the Reapers. I'll let her explain."

I stepped up and spoke into the phone. "President Bush, I have brought schematics for every possible level of sophistication. I understand you are industrialized and have reached the moon, but do not yet have micro transistors or computers with processing power that exceeds even a gigabyte of information."

There was a moment of silence, then, "My experts tell me that the best our computers can do is store a few kilobytes of information, maybe a megabyte if we push it."

"Then we can help you. I have schematics for everything from steam engines to advanced element zero cold fusion cores. It will take a few years, but if we work together we can jump your technology about 1000 years in a decade."

"God damn, are you serious? This will put us over on the Russians by a long shot."

"We will also be giving this information to the Russians. Or anyone else who asks. This is not about countries, or even just about humanity. This is about all life in this galaxy. We can defeat the Reapers, but everyone will need to work together."

Sean stepped in at that. "Mr. Vice President, we should meet on neutral ground. If memory serves, Switzerland is considered to be neutral. We need to meet with every world leader that has an economy that can build an internal combustion engine. We won't forge a single world order overnight, but humanity is going to need to stand together in this."

There was a few moments of silence, then the President spoke up. "Let's say I buy this. That these Reaper are really a threat. Why should we help you? We have our own problems here and now."

"YOU IGNORANT SON OF A BITCH!" Sean and I roared, mostly together, "I WATCHED EARTH/THESSIA BURN! I WATCHED AS THE LAST OF HUMANITY/SARIDOM BURNED IN HIGH ORBIT!"

"If you won't help us Mr. President, I'll kill you myself and find someone who will." Sean growled.

"If you even consider ignoring this like the fools on the Council," I panted, "I will flay you with my MIND."

"You two do know threatening the President is a federal offence." Bush remarked.

"Abandoning humanity to die is treason." Sean snapped, "And I've got a spaceship with some goddamn big guns."

"Alright, alright. I don't know if this is wise, but I'm inclined to believe you. Those people look like they've gone through hell, and the stories I'm getting on CNN from the survivors are grim. Some of it doesn't make sense, but one thing is clear. Unless you found a whole bunch of people and aliens and convinced them all to sing the same tune, something bad is gonna happen in about 150 years. No one will say that George Herbert Walker Bush took this one lying down."

"Good." Sean sighed, "Because 150 years is going to be barely enough time."

I couldn't help but agree. It might sound like a long time to a human, but to me, it wasn't even a fifth of my life. The Reapers were still coming. This time, we would be ready.

_Authors Note:_

_Just to be clear, I'm not inserting personal politics. Bush was elected President in 88, and Sean is trying to butter him up. _

_Also, if you read Sean's adventure, please review! I love feedback and want to hear what you have to say, good or bad. _

_Edit: I made a mistake. Bush was elected in 1988, but did not assume office until 1989. This has been fixed so that he is now refered to as Vice President. In future chapters, Ronald Reagan will appear as President until 1989, when Bush assumes office._


	2. Chapter 2

**Sean: Before**

It started off as a pretty normal day actually. I had gone to work, put in my time, come home and relaxed. I played a bit of Mass Effect 3 multiplayer, read a few chapters of my newest book, Worldwar: Tilting the Balance by Harry Turtledove, and gone for a ride on my bike. Normal enough day. Things got weird when I started feeling dizzy after the ride. At first it wasn't bad, but then I started to ache, all over. I thought about going to the hospital, but by the time I was ready to act on the idea it was too late.

I fell. I don't know how else to describe it. Endless falling, for what seemed like years but could have been anything from seconds to eons, I don't know. Then I found myself in a dark, wet place, naked. I groped my way out of an cardboard box into a city. I had no idea where I was. I had no clothes, no ID, nothing but my birthday suit. I sat shivering and wet as I tried to figure out what the hell was going on.

Eventually I forced myself to dig through the dumpster I was by and found some raggedy old clothes. I put them on, but I was still shoeless and filthy from the slime that had pooled in the box. When daylight came, I found myself in an alley surrounded by strange buildings. I didn't recognize it at first, but when I found an open line of sight to the mountains I realized where I was . The Phoenix Metro area, where I lived. Except, this wasn't the Phoenix I remembered.

Cars drove on the streets, but they looked nothing like what I remembered. Things flew overhead, but they were not planes or helicopters. People walked by in strange clothes. They spoke English and Spanish, and I understood it, but no one would speak to me. I was a bum. Who talks to bums?

After hours of wandering, I found a trash can with a half eaten sandwich and made myself eat it. I had never tasted anything so good. It was sickening. When I looked up, I almost passed out.

There was a turian walking by. A turian. From a game I played. He looked right through me, and people seemed to accept him. Not with the everyday kind of acceptance, but the I-am-deliberately-not-staring-at-you kind of acceptance.

The hell was going on. I wandered some more, finally finding another homeless person who would talk to me. From her inane babble, I learned three things.

The year was 2165. I was in Phoenix, in the United North American States. And I was in another world. The Mass Effect galaxy.

Mass Effect was a game. Turians were characters in that game. I could not be in a game. After an exhausting day, I lay down and forced myself to go to sleep. In the morning, I would be back home.

The next morning, I awoke filthy and still in the wrong place, the wrong time. I had no idea what was going on. But I knew one thing. The Reapers were coming. At first, I thought I could go find someone and tell them that ancient evil machines were coming. But I knew they wouldn't listen. What could I do? I worked at Wal-Mart for Christ's sake. I wasn't anybody. Why me?

After another wasted day, I formulated a half assed plan. On the third day, I found an Alliance recruiter. She seemed a little uneasy about it, but once I convinced her that I was not crazy (I made up some story about being from a colony that was attacked by pirates, smuggling myself back to Earth and being desperate for anything to go my way, and definitely didn't mention Reapers, the fact I was in a game, or time travel) she was willing to sign me on. I told her I would do anything, I just wanted food, a meal, and the skills to make something of myself.

I signed, she gave me cash for a meal and a hotel room and told me I would ship out to basic the next day. Her name was Gunnery Chief Elena Rodriguez. She died when the Reapers hit Earth. I had known her for years. We had kept in contact, she even pinned on my Chief's pips. I failed her.

I won't fail this time.

**Sean - 1988**

Waking up was easy. I rolled out of bed and hit the ground running. No aches, no pains, totally rested. If you are young, you have no idea how amazing that is. Being old sucks. Getting old is a nightmare. Living long enough to be old is a blessing. If you don't understand that, you haven't lost as many brothers and sisters as I have. Or you're an FNG and can kiss my ass.

I was on the Normandy. My self-promotion had stuck. Apparently, I was something of a hero to the few remaining humans. Something about rescuing those kids on Agessia and being Liara's beacon. I didn't deserve it, and I told EDI that.

"Being an Admiral will facilitate negotiations." She told me. "It is also earned. You have demonstrated skill and bravery, and have played a large role in the success of Project REDEMPTION."

"The why do I feel like such a heel." I muttered.

"Survivors guilt. You will endure. We all have."

I couldn't argue with that. Not to the woman who had lost her husband when Reapers came to Rannoch, and the choice was stay with him and die along with the ship's crew, or leave and fight on. EDI chose to fight. So did everyone else still alive back home, even if most of them are now dead.

Like Chief Rodriguez. From the scuttlebutt I've scrapped together, she died when she helped form a resistance cell on Earth and tried to take out a Reaper processing plant. She failed, but that doesn't matter. She died fighting. Something I would have been happy to do. I still don't know why I'm still alive, but I do know I can still fight.

And now, I have a plan.

I got Liara alone that morning up the Captains Quarters. Where her lover, Shepard, had once stayed. I felt like a trespasser. Sure, I never met the guy, and sure, I failed him too. But the man was a hero. I don't care if some people would say he failed. He did everything he could do, and he died fighting Reapers. He's a hero. Humanity has to many of them.

"I have a plan." I told her as I sat on the bed, "And this is going to sound crazy, but hear me out."

"Sean, I pulled you through time to act as a beacon, then sent you back in time so that we could travel to a time before you were born to fight a new war against machines that most of the galaxy doesn't know exist and have existed for millions of years." Liara chuckled darkly. "I think 'crazy' passed us by a while ago."

"Fair enough." I agreed, "Alright, you didn't just pull me across time. I'm from another dimension. One where your whole universe was a game. In the game, Shepard fought the Reapers with you and the others. Except in reality, something went wrong. On my worst nights, I think it was me being there that changed things. Shepard was supposed to live. He was supposed to activate the Crucible, stop the Reapers and give everyone a happily ever after."

"Stop!" Liara shrieked, standing and jamming a finger into my face. "Do not blame yourself for Shepard's death! I do every night, and that's a burden no one else needs to bear! I brought you forward, to the wrong time, the wrong place. Whatever you did, I started it. If Shepard's death is anyone's fault, it's mine!"

Panting she sat back down. "Now, you were saying."

Looking her dead in the eyes, I said, "I think maybe we both need to give up bearing Shepard's death. It was the Reapers that killed him."

I didn't mean it. I just didn't want Liara to feel guilty. Hell, if someone was going to feel bad, it should be me. I was the one who knew for nine years. I was the one who couldn't find the guts to tell anyone. Shepard's death, all those deaths, were my responsibility. My failure.

She smiled them. It was faint, but it was something. "You're just saying that so I won't feel guilty. Then you can take all the guilt on yourself. I was thinking of saying the same thing."

"Yeah. You caught me." I sighed. So much for that. "Anyway, my plan. We're 145 years early, give or take a few months. First, we need to get humanity to the space age. Start building a fleet. Along the way, we unite the Earth, and figure out a way to replicate the Mass Relays."

"We can already replicate the Mass Relays." Liara told me, "I have Vigil's data as well as my own plans. I could build a new relay with enough resources, it wouldn't be as powerful or efficient as the Reapers, but I could do it."

That actually brought a predatory grin to my face. "Well damn. We're a step ahead then. Right, so we build our own Mass Relay, then we go hunting. Sovereign is still out there, somewhere, waiting. We find him and kill him. Use the stealth frigates, disguise cruisers as transports or pirate ships, that sort of thing. We also hit the Collectors, take out their base before they go active. At the same time, we reach out and find allies. I suggest the geth and the quarians. They're marginalized right now, isolated. If they help us, not that many people will even notice."

"We can probably get the krogan as well." Liara added, "Bakara has the cure for the Genophage. If we can find Wrex, she can unite them. If we do it quietly, the Council won't even notice."

"Recruiting the krogan is a good idea, but I'm not worried about the Council. I'm worried about the Star Child."

"You've spoke of the Star Child before." Liara mused, "Who or what is it? You sounded as if it lived on the Citadel."

"I think it IS the Citadel. It's the Intelligence that created the Reapers, started the cycle."

After a moments silence, Liara nodded. "I suppose that makes sense. Something had to begin this nightmare."

"Yeah. That was it. You know about the Leviathans right?"

"Of course. The boogie men Shepard found that never turned up to help."

"We'll find those sons of bitchs and they either help us or we kill them. They'd be at least as much of a threat as the Reapers, and better to deal with them before the Reapers arrive. Anyway, the Star Child was created by the Leviathans. It turned on its creators and made them into Harbinger, the first Reaper. After that, it started killing everything and turning them into Reapers. When it's not busy genociding the galaxy, it sleeps on the Citadel."

"Right in the middle of all of us, monitoring us. That monster's the one that calls for the vanguard when the time is right. That's why it went to Earth, it was building a new one."

"Yeah. We all saw the vids."

At that we fell silent. The vids of the new Reapers were horrifying to those who knew what it meant: that humanity was harvested and was now being used to create new horrors. That billions of souls had died to fuel construction. Now they were trapped for eternity, serving the very force that had destroyed them.

"It won't happen again." Liara told me, her eyes burning with an inner fire.

"No, it won't." I agreed," "This time we know they're coming. When they do come, we have to fight smart. We need to move the Mass Relays to locations where we can easily defend against invasion. Put them in uninhabited systems trapped in a gas giant's gravity well so when the Reapers make the jump they're stuck. Then we can easily sabotage the Relay, blow them up when we have to retreat. That should wipe out a few Reapers with each relay we sacrifice."

"The races of the galaxy won't like that." Liara muttered, "But I see the benefits. If we have to, we could even sabotage ones in inhabited systems like Shepard did. It might cost us lives in the short run, but long term it could be our salvation."

"Exactly. It's the brutal calculus of war. We destroy a relay and lose a billion, but save a trillion. If we can take down the Reaper's network, isolate them and contain them, we gain a huge advantage. Constructing our own mobile relay network will give us the edge we need. Instead of the Reapers jumping into our systems while we are unprepared, we can drop behind their lines and ambush them, then leap away and blow our own relay when they attempt to follow."

"Risky, but worth it I think." Liara agreed. "Especially if we can build stealth cruiser wolfpacks. Those can take down a few Reapers then rabbit to FTL and lay low for a while. Then strike again later."

"That's perfect. We use the Reapers own tactics against them. A war of attrition where their own forces are cut off and isolated and we can pick away at them at our leisure."

"It's a good plan." Liara stated, leaning back in her chair, "We'll just have to get the Earth's nations on board and advance humanity quickly enough to put it into action."

"That's why we need the quarians and the geth." I explained, "It gives us wider tech base faster. Hell, if we can get the geth the upgrades, when Sovereign shows up to sweet talk them we can destroy him then hit the Citadel. I would hate to have to sacrifice those civilians, but if we have too..."

"They would all be dead anyway." Liara confirmed, "Better for them to die by our hand then become puppets of the Reapers."

I nodded. "We can't tell the people of Earth those details just yet. We have to seem like knights in shining armor, pure and incorruptible. Convince them we just want them to tech up and build a fleet to fight a conventional war. Then in the intervening years, use propaganda to help them realize fighting the Reapers is victory at any price."

"If we had been willing to fight like that in the beginning, maybe we would have stood a chance."

"That's the point of this whole project, Liara. We borrowed time. Now we can fight that way from the beginning."

"Indeed. And we will. No matter the cost, we must not fail."

After our little meeting, it was time for a press conference. I know I'm supposed to hate the press, but honestly, once the Reaper War began, I had nothing but respect for them. One of the great heroes was Emily Wong. She suicide into a Reaper, took it out in one last act of defiance. The whole thing was broadcast to the galaxy. She wouldn't be the first reporter to do or inspire great acts, or the last. I hoped these reporters would have kinder fates and be just as pliable.

We had decided that I would be our speaker. As the nominal leader of the humans, EDI predicted that I would be the most readily accepted. Even if I was to be our public face and leader, I would still defer to the council. EDI, Urdnot Bakara, Dr. Liara and quarian Admiral Gola'Tris were the other leaders, and would make most of the decisions. The salarians, turians and two batarians that were left were all civilians and wouldn't be involved in policy making.

Looking out, I saw more national reporters then local this time. I recognized Tom Brokaw sitting with the NBC correspondents, looking much younger then I remembered. Smiling inwardly, I shook my head. I was looking a lot younger then I remember as well. The conference was being held in the airports conference room, and I was flanked by a krogan warrior and a geth prim in full battle gear. Gabriel, the geth, had a dented and scared chassis and carried an air of quiet death. Galgo the krogan had armor that was patched and mismatched, but extruded ready violence. Together, I figured they could take on any given military on Earth and win. Against the press though, they would be of little use. We were here to win hearts, not battles.

I raised a hand for silence, and the press hushed. Taking a deep breath, I began.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, there has been some confusion as to what we are, and why we are here. First of all, I would like to state that we are not here as conquerors. We seek to unite humanity against a common foe, but we are not here to do so through enslavement or subjugation. Second, yes, there are alien species with us as well as humans. I personally am from Earth, as are several other survivors. The aliens with us are allies and friends, some organic life forms, others synthetic. No enemies were brought to Earth at this time. However, that does not mean there is peace among the stars. Roll tape."

The screen behind me cut to an image of London, in 2185. People walked happily along the street, and cars rolled along on the narrow streets. Suddenly, a siren began to blare. Moments later, a Reaper Dreadnaught descended from the sky and began to fire it's eye beam. Men, woman and children burned. Buckingham Palace was reduced to rubble in moments. Suddenly the screen changed, to a split between Moscow and Vancouver. Again the Reapers came. Again people died and the cities burned. Once more the screen split, to Mexico City, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Sydney. Death. Destruction.

It all faded to black and the press turned back to me, their faces pale.

"What you saw was not a simulation. It was not a dream. This is what will happen, 145 years from now. The Reapers WILL come. They WILL burn, destroy and convert our decedents into soulless abominations that live only to kill."

An image of a husk, ripping the face off of a baby appeared on the screen. The a cannibal, ripping the head off of a small girl. Several reporters vomited. I had seen worse.

"In 160 years, humanity will be extinct. No one will survive. Not a man, woman or child, regardless of race or creed, will remain. Every species you see here with me," I gestured to those to my left and right, krogan, salarian, geth, quarian, batarian, asari, and turian, "will also perish. The galaxy will be bereft of intelligent life, until once again it evolves. Then the Reapers will kill them as well."

"Why are you telling us this?" Someone yelled, "Why tell us stories of doom."

I showed my teeth, a predators grin. "Because now, you know. Now, you can fight back. Together, we can kill the Reapers and spare our children and grandchildren. We have brought the tools and technology to push humanity 1,000 years ahead of where it is now. When the Reapers attacked, the galaxy was at peace. There was no warning, no quarter. Half of the galaxies fleets were gone in the first blow, and we never recovered. Now though, we can fight for the lost!"

An image of Shepard, striking down Harbinger with an M7 Cain appeared on the screen. It was doctored, but to these pre-digital people it looked as real as could be.

I stood in front of the holo, and raised a fist. "People of Earth, we ask you now, who will fight for the lost? Who will stand against the Reapers? Who will save our children and grandchildren's future? Tomorrow, I meet with the leaders of Earth in Bern, Switzerland and ask them to stand against the Reapers. Let them hear your voice! Let them know you will not stand by and allow the human race to face annihilation!"

The image faded, and I returned to my seat. "The floor is now open for questions."

For a few moments, no one spoke. The reporters and their crews looked dazed, as if they couldn't believe what they had just heard and seen.

Finally, one woman, a Brit by her accent stood. "How can we fight?"

Inwardly I heaved a huge sigh of relief. I had been afraid of disbelief or rejection from the press. That we would be dismissed as either lunatics or fear mongers.

"For right now, encourage your leaders to listen to us, to accept our technology and follow our plan. For now, that means helping every nation of Earth get into space and achieve a higher tech base to work from. We need people who can learn to program computers, build space ships, and manufacture advanced compounds. We also will need construction workers, farmers, teachers, doctors, every job imaginable. It's going to be a big change, but together we can do it."

There was a few moments of furious scribbling, then another reporter raised their hand.

"What can the press do? I almost don't believe those videos, but I'm from Vancouver, and I got kids. I won't leave a legacy of death for them."

"Don't let people forget. Remind them every day that the Reapers are coming, no matter how old the news may seem. Show them why we need to change, why we have to fight. Support leaders who contribute to our cause. When we ask for volunteers, help us recruit them. They say the pen is mightier than the sword, prove it."

He nodded and sat down. I fielded a few more general questions after that, like what our plan was, who our leaders were, what else would happen in the future.

"Our plan for now is to build. We can improve life for everyone. We have advanced medicine and technology that will provide clean energy and living for all nations. This, we freely share under the condition that the nations we give these gifts to are willing to fight the Reapers when we call. As for the future, we can share more with people as time goes on. I am the leader of the remaining humans from our time and will lead public relations and the war effort. Dr. Liara T'soni is our research and development leader, EDI Moreau is our AI expert, Urdnot Bakara leads our civilians, and Admiral Gola'Tris will be in charge of the navy."

After that I turned things over to some of the alien survivors that gave out information on their species and how the Reapers had affected them. Sad stories, and good television I hoped. Liara was waiting for me at the back door.

"That went well I think. Will their leaders be as receptive?"

"Hopefully. If we can stir up support at the ground level it will work its way up to the top. As long as we win hearts and minds, we can succeed. Having nations back us will be nice, but really if we get enough volunteers and funding we can fight the war ourselves."

"Either way, we still fight." Liara agreed.

"Of course. We have a plan."

"Win, or die fighting?" Liara asked, chuckling humorlessly.

"Stop the Reapers." I agreed, "Or die heroes."

_Authors Note:_

_Some people commented that there seemed to be quite a few gaps and holes in the story. That's because this began In Medias Res, or in the middle. There will be more flashbacks, and eventually the whole story of Sean's experiences and Liara's fight against the Reapers will come out._

_Again, if you're reading this please review! I would love to hear what you like and what you think can be improved. _


	3. Chapter 3

**Liara - Before**

The first thing I noticed about Shepard was his smile.

"You alright in there?"

There I was trapped dozens of meters below Thermium's surface and this insane human was smiling at me. With him were a krogan and a quarian, an odd group to be sure. He rescued me, then took me with him when he had no reason to trust me. And he never stopped smiling at me.

Even more then the Prothean knowledge in his mind, that was what attracted me to him. I hadn't met many humans before, but I was immediately attracted to Shepard. One of my favorite memories is when I realized that he was attracted to me too. After that, we spent the night together on the way to Illium. I thought our romance would last forever.

And then the Reapers intervened. He was destroyed by their pawns the Collectors, and I spent nearly a year salvaging his ruined corpse and giving it to terrorists to resurrect. I made a deal with the devil's dog. I would do it again.

**Liara - 1988**

Sean was smiling, and so was I. That was a rare thing. Smiles and laughter had been in short supply since the Fall of Earth, and almost completely disappeared after the Battle of the Crucible. When hope died.

Now though, we had borrowed time. With time, came hope. And with hope, smiles.

"And this is considered a delicacy?" I asked, prodding at my fish eggs, what Sean called Caviar.

"Yes, it is. Never had it myself." He seemed equally unsure of his own food. "Try it on three?"

"Agreed." I loaded my fork with a large mouthful. "Ready?"

"One, two, three." We both took a bite. Our eyes locked, and we removed the caviar.

"That is disgusting." Sean declared, making a face.

I was blanching myself. "Human delicacies leave something to be desired."

"If sir and madam would like, I can bring you something else. Perhaps a salmon fillet would be more to your tastes?"

"Sounds great Walter." Sean agreed. When I raised an eyebrow at him, he explained, "It's fish meat. Has to be better then fishdog."

That was what made us smile. Varren meat had been one of the few sources of fresh food on Feros, and we had all eaten it. "They both sound better then fish eggs."

Then we laughed. At first it was just giggles, but we both soon lost control. "Oh Goddess, I can't even remember the last time I refused food." I gasped.

"I can't remember the last time I had something to laugh about." Sean hooted.

The waiter, Walter, returned with our plates. He was rather kind, ignoring the two supposed leaders of the aliens who had landed on his planet's hysterics. Finally, we calmed down and tried the salmon.

"Pretty good. Not a bad breakfast." Sean admitted.

I agreed, to busy stuffing myself. The tender pink flesh seemed to melt in my mouth, and I couldn't get enough of the fantastic wine. It had been so long since I had a proper meal. I think the last had been with Shepard, on the Presidium. The salmon turned to ash in my mouth, and I pushed my plate away.

After a moment, Sean grimaced and pushed his own plate away.

"Thinking of someone you lost?" I asked gently.

"No, thinking that the Reapers killed every salmon when they boiled the Earth's oceans. But now that you mention it, yes. We all lost a lot."

When he saw we wouldn't be eating anymore, Walter cleared away our plates. I glanced out the window at the dawn, the sun just peaking over the Alps. We were in Bern, Switzerland for the summit. Leaders from almost every one of Earth's nations had gathered to listen to us, to decide if they would fight the Reapers. I could only hope that they would. We could do it without them, but the more support we had the better. Our press conference yesterday had been translated into every language spoken by more than a dozen people and broadcast to every nation that had a radio. From what I had seen, it had been playing non-stop since it first aired, with endless commentary and a rather hopeful message from the press: War was coming. Humanity must act or be destroyed. Not a cheery message, but one that bore hope.

Before long it was time to head to the conference. Sean and I were the only representatives from the future except for Lamentations, the geth prime who was accompanying us as our nominal body guard. The truth was that Sean and I were both battle hardened veterans. Even one of the civilian refugees from our time knew how to fight or survive a battle, and had armor that could take an anti-tank round from one of these primitives and weapons that could sheer through any defense an assassin might have.

In truth, Lamentations job was to look like he could fight. He was an impressive specimen, three meters tall with a portable thranx cannon, a cyclonic barrier generator and red ablative armor thick enough to stop a brutes claws. He was a reminder that even though we were refugees, we could still fight. I had seen a geth prime take on a reaper platoon and win. The problem was, you never fought just one reaper platoon. There were only a dozen geth primes left. Lamentations, Gabriel, Michael, Solomon, Luke, Caleb, Isaiah, Acts, Ecclesiastes, Judges, Centurion, and the sole female, Ester. Each was the victor on a hundred fields. Each had once been a member of a legion of geth a billion strong. Now they were twelve.

"I hope these humans will listen." Lamentations mused as we drove in the truck provided for us. "To many did not when the first warnings came."

"They had a hard enough time listening when we first arrive." Mark commented, forming a small drone.

"It will be different this time." I assured the two geth.

Lamentations nodded his flashlight head, seeming to ponder the statement. "It must, mustn't it? Failure isn't an option."

"No, it is not." Sean agreed. "We failed once already."

On that morbid note, we arrived at the Federal Palace, where the conference was being held. The press was already there in force, and I nodded severely to them. Lamentations held up his massive gun and saluted, a picture of martial prowess. Sean looked suitably grim and determined, saluting the guards at the door. They snapped to attention and returned the gesture.

"We will fight." One of the guards shouted as he saluted.

Sean nodded, his translator allowed him to understand German, but he couldn't speak it and these men didn't have one of their own.

"Then we are brothers." Lamentations rumbled in German. The guards started, but they nodded to the towering geth. Another use of having a synthetic with us, language was no barrier.

We made our way past a dozen dignitaries that my omnitool identified for me. Gorbechov the General Secretary of the USSR, Vice President Bush of the United States, President Fidel Castro of Cuba, Prime Minister Margret Thatcher from England, and on and on and on. Some of them made as if to speak to us, be we continued on to the chamber we would be speaking from and they stepped aside. I hoped we did not offend, these were not men or women used to being denied.

Once we were inside, the leaders and delegates made their way to their seats. No one wanted to wait it seemed, and I was grateful. To me, 145 years seemed like a desperately short amount of time, and I was not the only one who felt that way. As soon as the last delegate was seated, Lamentations stepped forward.

"This session is now called to order. Representing the Synthetic Collective is myself, Lamentations of Rannoch. Representing the Asari Republic of Thessia, Dr. Liara T'Soni. Representing the Earth Systems Alliance, Admiral Sean O'Leary."

As first to speak, I stepped forward. I would speak English, the human language I had first learned. Translators had been provided for each of the dignitaries, and I saw several of them fiddling with their new toys. Behind me, Lamentations projected a picture of Thessia. It was from a few months from now, though it had been taken nearly 150 years ago. Strange, how time travel twisted things.

"This is my home, the planet of the asari. Thessia." I declared. "We were considered to be the most advanced race in the galaxy. Our culture pervaded every species that ventured beyond its home system. Our diplomats had embassies on a thousand worlds. Our warships were the mightiest in the galaxy. This is Thessia today. The bright jewel of the galaxy."

The image changed, to the same location after the Reaper invasion. Ruined buildings burned and slaughtered asari body's were strewn about the streets as Reapers dominated the skyline.

"This is Thessia 146 years from now. Her cities destroyed, her people slain. Her culture lost, her diplomats murdered in their chambers or Indoctrinated to bring about their sisters destruction. This is the Thessia I left, the Thessia I remember."

The picture changed back to the first image of a pristine Thessia. "If we act now, my people will never be destroyed. My home will never burn. We cannot build a force to stop the Reapers in a year. We will not build a force to stop the Reapers in a decade. This will be the work of more than a century. It will take the blood, sweat and tears of your people to save my home."

The image changed to that of Earth as it burned. "To save your own home."

Lamentations turned off his projector, and I looked out over the audience. Several of them looked deeply disturbed, a few intrigued, others apathetic. I forced myself to continue.

"We have with us data caches. For now, it is basic designs. Something that will boost your technology a decade in the next month. This is a gift to us from you, freely given. We will ask for nothing in return."

At that, there was a rumble, and I waved for silence.

Mikhail Gorbachev stood, "That is very nice, but why do you do this? You tell us a story of doom, then give us technology and say you want nothing for it. You must want something."

There was a rumble of assent. Even Vice President Bush, Gorbachev's arch rival, nodded in agreement.

"We do want something from you." I agreed, "But it is not a price you can pay. We want you to prepare to fight the Reapers. Giving you advanced technology will help build that foundation. Your technology will need to advance 100 years before you can even reach out to your own solar system. We think we can do that in the next 18 months, but it is only the first step."

"I think you want us to be your army." Castro shouted, "Do you wish us to serve you? Are you the American's puppets?"

"No!" I nearly shouted, forcing myself to retain control. "We do not want servants. We want Allies. We give this technology to Americans yes. But we also give it to Cuba. To every nation. Our hope is that soon, there will be no nations. There will only be humans. Humans that want live, to save the galaxy from the Reapers. Humans that fight for Earth, for Thessia, for all living beings. Not for America. Not for Cuba."

"I don't think were quite ready to leave our nations behind yet."Vice President Bush drawled, "But as of now, I am authorized to tell you President Reagan will be lifting the embargo on Cuba tomorrow. We will work with our Socialist neighbors against the Reapers. They say better dead then Red, but better Red then destroyed by those things. Those Reapers."

For a moment, Castro was dumbstruck, then stood and half bowed to the American. "If you are willing to work with Cuba Mr. Bush, Cuba will work with you. Perhaps we have found a foe we can all unite against."

That produced quite a stir, but the room immediately quieted when two men stood together. They were the representatives from Israel and Egypt,Yitzhak Shamir and Hosni Mubarak.

"This is a foe we cannot face divided." Hosni stated, "And now is the time to set aside old rivalries."

"Israel and Egypt will work together, and ask the other nations of the world to join us, not as Jews or Arabs." Yitzhak stated.

"But as human beings." They finished together.

The room burst into applause, and many other dignitaries stood and pledged themselves to aid however they could. Some nations, especially Arab states, looked unhappy with the situation, but applauded along with the rest, abet half-heartedly.

"Thank you, you have given hope to your children and to the daughters of Thessia. I now give the floor to Admiral O'Leary, who will outline our basic plan.

Sean took the floor and explained the basics of how we would fight. How we would reach for the stars, scatter colonies to nearby systems and construct our own FLT systems that would give us an advantage the Reapers would not expect. How one Reaper lay waiting in the stars, and how we would find him and his master and destroy them when the time came. It took several hours as questions were asked for both he and I, but one thing was obvious. The majority of humanities leaders believed us. Each had been sent footage of his own country being destroyed by the Reapers. Each had seen testimonials from survivors from every race in his own language. Everyone knew what was at stake.

As the conference ended and new allies made plans to share secrets and experts, I turned to Sean. He was weeping openly now that his back was turned.

"It's working." He whispered hoarsely, "They're listening this time."

"You didn't fail." I told him, hugging him tightly.

He squeezed back, as if I was the only thing keeping him alive. I realized I was clinging just as tightly. "You're going to change history, doc."

"We are. Together." I cried.

"Together." He agreed. "We'll succeed."

_Authors Note:_

_Real people in this chapter: _

_George H.W. Bush Vice, President of the United States (And future President)_

_Fidel Castro, President of Cuba_

_Margret Thatcher, United Kingdom Prime Minister_

_Mikhail Gorbachev, General Secretary of the Soviet Union_

_Yitzhak Shamir: Prime Minster of Israel_

_Hosni Mubarak, President of Egypt _

_Fun game: post a review where you try and guess which world leader(s) is going to try and use the future tech for diabolic ends firs (Hint: It's not one of the ones I listed in this chapter). Winner gets a cookie ;)_


	4. Chapter 4

**Sean - Before**

Before I joined the Alliance, I was a loser. I wouldn't have told you that at the time, but the fact is I was. I worked at Wal-Mart as an unloader, and had dropped out college. The Alliance turned me into a winner. By the end of it, not only was I in the best shape of my life, I had closer friends then I ever had before, more self confidence than ever, and a skill set that formed the basis for everything I would become in life. The good parts, anyway.

The first thing you start off with is six weeks of basic training. Fitness, how to follow orders, how to fight as a unit (even void suckers like me are expected to be able to repel borders, and that training saved my life at least a dozen times), that sort of thing. Basically, whatever you were before the Alliance got a hold of you is broken down and rebuilt into something worthwhile.

After that is another six weeks of more specialized training. Marines do endless combat drills, techs learn how to maintain systems, and I learned how to move supplies. My official designation became Logistics Tech Third Class Sean O'Leary, Military Vocational Code L1. Everyone just called me L FNG. I had never been so grateful and so proud as when I was given first assignment.

The Alliance has, or rather, had, one of the largest and most sophisticated supply and distribution networks in the galaxy. Hell, the turians, salarians and asari studied our supply system. We were that good, and I was damn proud of the fact I was a part of it. Our infrastructure was second to none even though we were still relatively new in the galaxy.

As an L1, I spent most of my time sorting and processing supplies on BEFSUB's, or Big Effing Supply Boats. Yes, I've heard the joke about L designations loving beef subs with extra dick. I'll cut yours off and use it if you insist on cracking wise. Jokes aside, the Alliance was damn proud of its BEFSUB class, officially called the Ox LSS-3. I was damn proud to be a part of the program, and I turned out to be damn good at it too.

That actually became a problem for me. I was so good at my new job, and had such a promising career ahead of me I couldn't bring myself to warn anyone about the Reapers. I decided if I kept my head down, tried not to make any waves and stayed smart, I could survive the Reaper invasion and poke my head above ground once Shepard and the Normandy saved the galaxy.

Every night, I have nightmares about the billions I doomed. Every day at odd times, I find myself weeping for my sins. Every morning, I ask God for grace and mercy. So far, I still feel like shit.

Now I have a chance to redeem myself. A trillion dead souls remind me why I cannot stay silent. A hundred dead friends force me to fight on. And one guilty conscious won't let me give up.

**Sean - 1988**

"There it is." Alan Shepard whispered, staring out the view port. "Damn. Never thought I'd be able to say I walked on both the moon and Mars."

Valentina Tereshkova nodded from her place beside Alan. "I can hardly believe it myself, Comrade Shepard."

I glanced over at Liara. She didn't seem to be visibly bothered by the fact that this wasn't the first Shepard the Normandy had transported, or by the fact that they shared the same name. The Alan Shepard she had known had died on Earth almost 10 years ago 147 years in the future. Thinking about it too much made my head hurt.

"You OK?" I asked, using a private comm channel. I had on my armor and helmet, an old habit from too many hull breaches.

"If I say yes, will you believe me?" Liara answered, using her omnitool to type out the message.

"No."

"Then I won't bother lying. This man isn't my Shepard, but it brings back hard memories."

"I understand. Seeing Earth again... It doesn't change what we lost."

"It doesn't. We can't lose them again."

"We won't doc, I promise."

"He said the same thing."

That shut me up. At least I, hadn't had anyone really close. Sure, I had had a girl more or less, but Meevish had more been a friend with benefits than anything else. She had been my mechanic and copilot on my little freighter, and long cargo hauls got boring. With not much else to do, we had spent quite a bit of time fooling around in the small cabin where we had both lived. Yeah, I had been real torn up when she died, and I still had nightmares about it, but it wasn't like with Liara and Shepard.

The tears running down my face behind my visor give me the lie. Goddammit, I miss Meevish deeply, even if she had been dead for three years. I miss the feel of her body against mine, of having someone beside me when I wake up with another nightmare. Or having someone to comfort when she woke up from hers. Meevish's family had been on Terria Nova, one of the first colonies hit by the Reapers.

"It's hard to let go." I whisper.

"We have to though. Life doesn't stop because they die."

I started, and realizing I had left the comm channel open. I nodded to Liara gratefully. We both understood pain.

We made the trip to Mars at minimum power, the Normandy had plenty of fuel, but who knew when more would be refined and every drop counted. As such, instead of the 30 or so minute jaunt, it had taken us nearly nine hours. That had impressed our guests, a joint Soviet and American film crew and two of the most famous people to visit the stars. With their tech, a trip to Mars would have taken years.

Unlike the crash landing the Normandy had originally performed, EDI let the ship gently coast down with an absolute minimum of thruster use. Organic pilots were generally better at surprising maneuvers, but for efficiency and precision, no one bested synthetics.

"Right, the Prothean archives should be right over here." Liara stated, motioning for the crew to follow her.

Right away, I saw only a minimum of digging was going to be necessary to get at the Prothean arcives. A drift of silt had built up, partially blocking access, but it was going to be a breeze to clear.

"Someone get me a shove." I ordered, intending to start digging myself.

Liara seemed to catch my line of thought, and put her hand on my arm. "Admiral's don't dig out ruins themselves." She whispered.

I muttered something foul under my breath, and Liara smiled at me through her clear mask. "Still looking for the dirtiest jobs?"

I shrugged. "I never order people to do something I wouldn't be willing to do myself."

"That's why you make a good admiral. Now you need to learn to worry about the big things and give yourself the hardest jobs, not the menial ones."

I grunted. It was a good way think about things. Dealing with politicians and the mess they made certainly was a dirty job, just not the kind I was used to doing. Maybe I wasn't cleaning out the life support filters or fixing a clogged fuel line anymore, but I guess this was just as bad an assignment. That was good. I didn't deserve a cushy post.

Before long, two Alliance marines had the silt cleared away. They were both kids, though after a moments consideration I realized they looked older than I did now. I still had to ask Liara why the hell I looked like baby faced kid instead of the grumpy old man I was.

We had decided that Alan and Valentina would be the first through the door. They had been given omnitools for this, and shown the pass key to get the ancient prothean door to open. In a moment, they were through. Liara took the lead, she had spent several months in this facility and things were still pretty much the same. Gargo and Lamentations had accompanied us to do the heavy lifting, and the sound of their heavy steps echoed through the silent halls.

"This place is like a tomb." One of the reporters commented, shuddering in her Alliance skinsuit.

"It is a tomb." Liara stated, "The last resting place of a once mighty Empire. If we do not stop the Reapers, our own tombs will be all that remain for future generations to find."

That gave the press something to talk about, and they started babbling about how everyone had to do their part to prevent the extinction of the human race. I smiled. That was exactly why we had brought them.

Before long we reached the main storage chamber of the achieves where the eezo trove was. The press got lots of pictures of the old prothean fighters, and of Valentina and Alan posing with each other and the fighters. They looked suitably grim, like they were contemplating the destruction of humanity, just as the protheans had been destroyed.

Then Liara and I had to pose. We contemplated the ruins, posed dramatically as we studied ancient engravings, and explained what had happened to the Protheans. How they had suffered the same fate as us, and how for this cycle, things would be different if humanity banded together. Then they got shots of Gorgo and Lamentations hauling up crates of eezo. Between them they could lift at least a ton, and it didn't take long to get everything loaded back on the Normandy. After that, it was time to leave. We had no real need for any of the data contained within, but were leaving behind a few drones remotely controlled by geth programs to sift through things. Perhaps we would find something, but I doubted it. These ruins had been scoured long ago.

When we got back to the ship, EDI motioned for Liara and I to follow her to the CIC room.

"We have trouble." She said.

I sighed, things had gone far to perfectly at the conference last week. "Who is it? China? South Korea? Pakistan?"

"Osama bin Laden."

"Well, shit."

When we got to the CIC, there was good ole Osama in a plain white robe, looking rather younger then when he got plugged just before I got pulled forward. With him was Grand Ayatollah  
Ruhollah Khomeini of Iran, Yasser Arafat of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, President Hafez al-Assad of Syria, President Amine Pierre Gemayel of Lebanon, and President Sadam Hussein of Iran.

"Who the hell called a meeting of the crazy club?" I growled, "That's every tin pot dictator in that region and fucking Bin Laden thrown in for good measure. Someone tell me what is going on, because I don't remember any of those idiots ever getting along before."

"According to the recording, Bin Laden claims to have had a vision from his God. He contacted the five leaders and told him of his vision. They have agreed to join him."

"How they hell did that happen?" I raged. "Those bastards hate each other more than anything!"

"We happened." Bakara rumbled.

"I will play the recording from the beginning." EDI stated.

The screen flicked, then Ayatollah Khomeini began to speak.

"Last week, the infidels of the world held a meeting in which they pledged themselves to fight an imaginary foe while the great evils of this world shook hands and grew in strength. Even our Muslim brothers in Egypt, lead by the lap dog of the Jews have been forced to join in this coalition of the unfaithful. We will not allow this to happen! As brothers, we cannot allow ourselves to be marginalized while the faithless grow in the world. They are even lead by a she-devil, a woman made not in the image of Allah who seeks to spread her poisonous influence across the world!"

"Goddess, they cannot be serious." Liara groaned.

I shook my head. "Oh I think they are, but let's allow them to finish."

President Gamayel stepped forward next. "To combat this whore of Satan, we are forming the Muslim League. As when the Caliphs of old banded together to declare jihad against the infidel, so too must we stand together. We have been given gifts by the great whore, but we shall use them for Allah!"

Next Captain Crazy himself, Saddam Hussein stepped up. "With these gifts, we will unit first the Muslim world, then take the weapons of these aliens and infidels for ourselves, as is right. To unite us, a new Caliph has been chosen, one who will cast off the bonds of Kurd, Sunni, Shiite and unite us all as Muslim brothers!"

"Oh fuck." I moaned, "Don't tell me..."

"I shall be that man." Osama declared, putting himself before all the others. "These great men have sworn themselves to my holy service. Our first task is to liberate our brothers in Palestine and take back Holy Jerusalem for its rightful owners, the Sons of Muhammad. We shall scourge first the Jew, then free our brothers in Egypt, then-"

"Stop it. Get me a line to the Israeli PM." I ordered. "Full military power. Set course for Tel Aviv. Tell Gargo and Lamentations to put their war gear on. They're going in hot."

"Right away Admiral." EDI agreed.

Liara nodded. "I will notify Bakara and the others to prepare. Do you want any others mobilized?"

"Not right now. Let's show the world just how strong we can be. Two of ours against every screaming zealot between the Red Sea and India." Gave Liara a savage grin. "I like our odds."

In minutes, Yitzhak was on the phone. "I take it you have seen the footage?" He asked.

"I have, so we're going to skip the pleasantries. As confidant as I am in Israel's ability to hand the Arab's their asses again, you're not going to do it alone. I'm sending you reinforcements, to be used my own discretion."

"That is... Unusual." Yitzhak slowly stated. "Why do you rush to the aid of Israel? In the past, even the United States has been willing enough to fight our own wars."

"Because Israel is a hell of a lot more competent then kicking ass then those idiots. You have a better tech base, are easier to deal with, and frankly I like you more. They are the aggressors here. The second one of their soldiers tries to attack you, we'll unleash hell."

"That is good to hear. How many of your forces can we expect? Tanks, perhaps your space ship?"

"You can expect two."

"Two? Two regiments?"

"Two soldiers."

After a moment, Yitzhak laughed. "I am sorry, but I do not see how that will help us against the entire Arab world."

"I am sending you a geth prime and a krogan battle master. A geth prime is capable of taking on an entire Reaper task force, maybe even a Reaper destroy all on its lonesome. Lamentations has personally killed or disabled three Reapers in his time, and accounted for thousands of Reaper combat forms. Gargo's record is equally impressive. He once held off an entire Reaper assault alone for three days. At the end, the bodies of his foes were stacked so high they needed mining explosives to dig him out. I'm sending you the equivalent of the United States and the Soviet Union's entire military might condensed into two soldiers."

Yitzhak was again silent, then answered, "I will believe it when I see it. Still, at least you are willing to give me even token support."

"We'll be air dropping them on Tel Aviv in 20 minutes. Now if you will excuse me, I have a press conference to arrange."

I stormed out of the CIC, angry at the world. Angry at the Muslims for being blind idiots, angry at Yitzhak for his lack of gratitude, angry at myself for not seeing this coming.

"Where's Gargo and Lamentations?" I demanded, causing the poor young quarian guard to nearly dissolve into a puddle of lubricant.

"They are, in the hold, sir. Awaiting your orders." The quarian stammered.

"What's your name?" I asked, glaring at the poor girl through her face mask.

"Unna'Koris, sir."

"Well Unna, today's your lucky day. You're going dirt side to coordinate with them. Come on."

"Yes sir!"

Storming through the hold, I shouted for the press to assemble down in the cargo bay for me.

"I want them down there five minutes ago!" I raged at an asari engineer.

"Yes sir!"

"Stupid sand eating sons of bitchs." I growled, "I should just nuke the whole damn region and send in the geth to paint lines on the new space port."

"The Arabs sir?" Unna asked, clearly trying to be helpful

I didn't care what she intended."THE WHOLE DAMN REGION! Israel can kiss my ass too. They had better be grateful for the way we're sticking out necks out like this. Everything could blow up in our face if this isn't handled appropriately."

Lamentations and Gargo were waiting for me, geared up for war and ready to drop.

"Admiral." Gargo said, nodding to me.

"Sir." Lamentations stated.

"Alright you two, listen up. You are not to engage until those idiots in the new Saturday Morning Cartoon Villains club attack. No preemptive strikes, no attacking civilian targets. Understood?"

"Yes sir." They chorused.

"Good. I'm sending Unna here down with you to coordinate with the Israeli authorities. Get her kitted up, she's hot dropping with you. Listen to the Israeli leadership, but use your own instincts and don't do anything that might turn the entire world against us. You can wipe out any forces attacking you, but the second they surrender or turn tail, I want them treated like they're going to wake up proud Alliance members the next day."

"Once the shit does hit the fan, don't stop until every single hostile is eliminated in your vicinity. Once the shooting stops, stand by for additional orders. Unna here is going to try to keep Israel from conquering the poor dumb bastards. I'm going to need the Middle East stable, not a seething pot with a Jewish lid."

"Don't worry sir, I won't let you down!" Unna piped.

I nodded. She was Admiral Koris's girl, a good kid. She had her fathers instincts as a peace maker, but could handle herself in a fight. Jews were basically Earth quarians, so hopefully she would get along with Yatzik and his cronies.

That was when the press showed up. They looked suitably puzzled, and Liara looked smugly proud of herself for getting them her so quickly. I shot a grateful look in her direction, and she smiled and winked at me.

"Alright, get set up. I've got an message for Earth."

Placing myself in front of Unna, Galgo and Lamentations, I did my best to look stern and grave instead of generally hacked off about the whole situation.

"People of Earth, a short time ago the leaders of several nations banded together. Not to aid their brothers, not to fight for the future of humanity, but to try to destroy their fellow man. This is unacceptable. Regardless of past histories or old grudges, we MUST have peace on Earth. We must be united and ready to stand as one against our foes. They are ancient and terrible, knowing no mercy or compassion and slaughtering without discrimination. Against them, all the petty feuds and wars throughout history are as nothing. As the leader of the Earth Systems Alliance, I cannot allow an assault on any nation for any reason.

"As such, I am declaring my support for peace. As a man who has fought against the Reapers, I believe in peace through superior firepower. Know this, Osama bin Laden. I have no grudge against you or your people. You and those who follow you will have your place among the stars. A strong coalition of Muslim nations could be a boon for humanity and be sword and shield for their brothers. There is room for a multitude of new colonies and distant planets where you may freely practice your beliefs, so long as you do not persecute others for there's.

"But you must also be willing to let others live in peace. If you attack Israel, Egypt, or any other peaceful nation Mr. bin Laden, you will be destroyed. Your armies will be shattered, your governments overthrown and the governance of your lands given to others. Those who seek peace and prosperity for all mankind will inherit your position, and I will declare all nations that become aggressors against their fellow man Earth Systems Alliance territory, and will be governed by myself through the deputies I appoint.

I too believe that God is great, and I am a man of faith. But I also believe that God has given me this second chance at victory against the Reapers. I will not squander this.

O'Leary out."

I stepped out from the spot light and pointed to the press. "That will be edited and given to Urdnot Bakara and EDI Moreau. They will approve all propaganda broadcasts. Consider yourselves drafted, you work for Humanity now, not whatever corporate logo is on your gear."

The press nodded, and several sketched salutes that made my inner Senior Chief wince. I turned on my heal and stormed back to the CIC.

I was halfway there before I realized what I had just done, and I sagged against the bluckhead.

"Oh God, what have I done?" I moaned, "I just started a war and declared myself king of humanity."

"You did what had to be done." Liara said from behind me.

I turned and grimaced. "Did I? If I screw this up Liara, the fragile alliances we've managed to garner with the Soviet Union and NATO will fracture. If those two come after us, we can't stop them. We can stomp a nation or two into the dirt, but we can't take on the whole world. I just put myself a step below God, Judge, Jury and Executioner. I can't handle it Liara, I can't handle that much power. No man can."

Liara came forward and slapped me, hard. "That was to wake you up, Admiral. You ARE humanity, like it or not. When you accepted the position as Admiral of the Systems Alliance, you put yourself next to the Goddess in power and responsibility. You are the face of the war effort, of the hope of humanity ."

Then she leaned in and kissed my still stinging cheek. "And this is for the fact that when it was time to act, you acted. You spoke with authority and alacrity and took what seemed like the best course of action. You acted like the leader of humanity. Like OUR leader. A leader we've lacked since we lost Primarch Garrus. The council is all well and good Sean, but we need a leader."

"I thought that was you, doc." I whispered. "It can't be me. I knew the Reapers were coming for 20 years. I did nothing. When the Reapers came, I stayed on the rear lines and moved supplies and evacuated colonists. I was a coward. I AM a coward."

"No Sean, you are not." Liara whispered, "Whatever you did in the past, you are no coward. What could you have told people? That you knew the Reapers were coming because this was a game for you from the past you came from? Shepard SAW the Reapers and was a respected human Specter. He was first exiled, then imprisoned. You said in your game, Shepard succeeded at the Crucible. That the Reapers were defeated. Is that true?"

I nodded reluctantly. "Yeah. Shepard fired the Crucible in the game, and one of three things happened. All synthetic life, the geth, EDI, the Reapers, were destroyed. He merged with the Crucible and became the new master of the Reapers, using them to rebuild the galaxy and ensure peace for organics and synthetics, or he sacrificed himself so that organics and synthetics could have a lasting peace by merging them into one techno-organic life form. Guess we'll never know if it would have actually worked."

"Because he was killed." Liara agreed, her voice steady despite the tears forming in her eyes. "Perhaps your game was just a fantasy. A dream that could never be."

That made me stop, and think about something I remembered. "That's... That's actually what some people believed about the game. Shepard was knocked down by a Reaper blast, and woke up with a weird weapon and walked about in a sort of dream like state. Some people theorized that he was killed by the Reapers, and everything after getting hit by Harbinger's beam was the last of his brain synapses firing. No matter what the ending, Shepard always died. There was no way for him to live."

That made Liara choke, and she started crying. I stepped forward and embraced her. "Hey, I'm sorry." I whispered, "It was just a stupid game."

"No Sean, that's what happened." Liara sobbed, "I watched Shepard fall to Harbinger's beam, then get executed by a marauder. The happy ending was a dream, just a dream. How can we do it? How can we stop the Reapers?"

"Because we have to!" I told her fiercely, squeezing her tightly as tears bloomed on my own face. "Because we borrowed 145 years. I am GLAD you took me Liara. I am GLAD I was chosen. If I have to be the leader of humanity, if the sins of my entire race have to fall on my shoulders, so be it. I will not stop fighting. I will make a future, for you, for my people, for the future of the galaxy. We cannot fail!"

Suddenly, Liara started shaking, and I held her out in front of me, worried that she was sobbing again. But she was laughing.

"Oh Goddess Sean, do you really deal with your problems so quickly? You're like Shepard. You get kicked down, and all it takes is a quick pep talk from someone and you're back on your feet, ready to fight and die again."

I shrugged, unwilling to be compared to humanities greatest hero. "I don't know Liara. I don't think of myself that way. I just do what I have to do. But I need you, I need the council. I need someone at my side, I need people to pick me up when I'm down and stop me when I'm wrong. I'm not perfect, not even close."

I paused, biting my lips, then looked back in her eyes. "And I don't deal with my problems. I just push them down until later. Some nights... Well, some nights I don't sleep. Most nights. Even with the pills. When I acted against Osama and his cronies, it wasn't because I thought I could be a hero. It was because I was mad. Mad that people were making the same stupid mistakes. Dividing, resisting, not believing the truth. I just... I just wanted to make them SEE. By killing them if I have to."

Liara put her hands on my shoulders and pulled me close, resting her head on my chest. "Then I hope you keep trying to make people see Sean. You've come up with a plan to deal with the Reapers. You came up with a plan to deal with this new threat. As more threats arise, you will come up with new plans, or ask your allies to help you. You don't have to have all the answers Sean. I'm still here for you. EDI, Bakara, Gola, Luke, they are all still here for you."

"I am also still here," Mark suddenly piped up, "And might I recommend that you detach me before this goes any further? My sensors indicate your both in dire need of getting laid, and frankly if there was any more sexual tension in here I might start to get horny."

I suddenly stepped back at the same time Liara did, blushing furiously. "It's not, I'm not..." I stammered, not sure of what to say, and suddenly very aware of just how young I was, how beautiful Liara was, and how long (2 years, 4 months, and about 1 week) it had been since I had gotten any. Hell, I couldn't even remember the last time I jerked off. Being old didn't stop you from having those urges, but being bone weary and beat to shit every day combined with being old sort of suppressed them.

"I wasn't..." Liara began, blushing herself and glancing away.

"Oh come off it you two." Mark lectured, "If anything, go up to the captains quarters for a quick screw. You both need it, and you'll feel much better afterwards. Or so EDI tells me."

"Mark, I assure you that if I do decide to start taking dating advice, you will be the first synthetic I ask. The doctor and I are just friends. Professional friends."

"Yes, just friends." Liara agreed.

"Your state of sexual arousal disagrees with your words, Sean." Mark chuckled, "If I was an organic, I would definitely be asking the doctor for some... Personal time."

I glanced at the doctor, and decided that this situation could not personally become anymore awkward.

"Doctor, I believe we were discussing the current situation in the Middle East. Let's sit down with EDI and figure out our course of action for dealing with the other nations of the world.

Regaining her composure, Liara nodded. "Yes, I believe that is exactly what we are doing."

"Organics." Mark sighed. I nearly threw my omnitool against the wall.

_Authors Note: _

_Well, a few things have happened. Next chapter, EDI will explain why each leader decided it was time to attack Israel (again). _


	5. Chapter 5

**Liara - Before**

When Shepard died, I refused to give up on him. Cerberus gave him a second chance, but I didn't know if I could face him. If he would still have the same smile. If he would still want me. I dove into my work, as I had done in the past when social situations became too hard for me to cope with. I told myself I was helping him, helping to fight the Reapers.

In reality, I was a coward who didn't want to face reality. I hid behind a personal of a ruthless information broker when inside I was still a scared little girl. To hide from my fear and guilt, I took on the Shadow Broker, the being that had nearly stolen Shepard from me. I threw myself into the task and buried my heart under a mountain of duty.

And then Shepard came. He was still smiling, but now his smile was sad. He helped me, did everything he could for me. He took down the Shadow Broker and handed me the keys to the kingdom. I was the most powerful woman and the world, but I felt utterly alone.

Then he invited me up to his cabin. We shared another night together.

And then I ran. Like the coward I was.

**Liara**

I cannot say that I was surprised when a group of humans rebelled. I was wounded, I was hurt, I was angry, but I was not surprised. I had known this wouldn't be easy.

Sean however, was surprised. He had hoped that his people would rally, would cast off their blindfolds and shackles in unite immediately to take down the Reapers. Even in this early hour, we have made great strides. The two most powerful nations on Earth, the Soviet Union and the United States had rallied their allies and fallen in line behind us almost immediately. China, Brazil, India and many minor powers looked ready to do the same.

Along the way though, obstacles were sure to arise. EDI and Bakara had identified several trouble spots, the Middle East high among the list. Sean had even stated that he thought Iraq and Pakistan were problems waiting to happen. When they did happen, Sean acted with alacrity and speed, taking steps to support those who were our allies and at the same time offering a hand of peace.

But as soon as the adrenaline wore off, his doubts showed up again. He became vulnerable. And my heart cried out for him. I don't know if it is attraction. I just know that I am tired. Tired of running. Tired of being alone. Tired of being a coward.

Now we sit in the CIC, waiting and watching. It has been three weeks since the new Holy Empire of Muhammad formed. Things are still being hashed out internally, but battle lines have been drawn. Lamentations and Galgo wait on the Israeli border, a hundred miles apart facing down an army alone. The Egyptians and Jordanians, allies of Israel, have also mobilized, but have not left their own borders. The world seems to be holding its breath, waiting for the hammer to drop.

"It's starting." Luke rumbles, "They're moving. Lamentations is requesting permission to engage."

"Tell him not to fire until fire upon, or until they cross the border." Sean calmly replies.

"Unna says the Israeli's are ready to fight. She can't hold them back much longer." Admiral Gola states.

"Tell her to buy us time. We cannot be the aggressors in this. Neither can our allies." Bakara urges.

"Lamentations reports enemy fighter closing in. They will be over the border in five minutes."

We watch the clock tick down. An Israeli general begs to scramble his fighters. Sean holds him in check.

Then they are over the border.

"Lamentations reports 12 fighters down."

"Galgo reports 8 fighters destroyed."

"Tell them to advance. Don't stop until they run out of targets."

I watch as Lamentations form on the screen shimmers. He takes on the form of an avenging angel straight out of the Quran. It is only an illusion, but it is sure to fool any who look upon him. A Syrian armored company enters into range and spots him, opening fire.

Fighting is prescribed for you, and ye dislike it. But it is possible that ye dislike a thing which is good for you, and that ye love a thing which is bad for you. But Allah knoweth, and ye know not.". Lamentations bellows, transmitting on all Holy Brotherhood channels.

Then he opens fire. It appears as if the angel is striking with his sword, sending divine flames against it's foes. The armored company is no more.

"Soon shall We cast terror into the hearts of the Unbelievers, for that they joined companions with Allah, for which He had sent no authority. Seeking new targets."

I glance over at Galgo's screen. He is assaulting an entire company of Iranian mechanized infantry. Load music blares from his suits speakers and he roars with pleasure along with it.

_I am a son of the Urdnot Clan _

_Battle beckons and I heed the call_

_Fight for krogon honor with steel!_

_Hear me brothers gather up the Varren_

_To battle we will ride_

_Storm and fury, earth and fire _

_Are the powers at our command!_

With a single biotic charge Galgo rips apart an APC, sending a shockwave into the exposed troops and scattering their bodies. With a warp, he shreds the armor of a tank and with his Claymore he takes down an entire squad on foot. He charges again, sending men flying. A machine gun opens up on him, but the rounds scatter uselessly on his barrier. Another charge, and the gun falls silent.

Bodies are everywhere. It is a slaughter. A man tries to bash Lamentations with his rifle butt, and is back handed so hard his skull caves in. A fighter wing targets Galgo, and the battle master deploys drones that take out the fighters with targeted EMP pulses before they are within 100 miles. Vehicles burn. Men scream. In minutes, our two soldiers have slain hundreds, if not thousands.

I cannot take it anymore. These should be our allies. I thought I was prepared. I thought I had steeled myself to the reality that we would have to fight against our own brothers. Like the coward I am, I flee.

Again I turn to work. I start contacting world leaders, showing them the feeds on their new extranet vid screens. Many of them are brand new, manufactured and delivered only days before. Some are clearly disturbed as I am at the carnage. Others are blasé, shrugging it off as the cost of war. A few are disgustingly gleeful at the destruction of members of their own species.

"I must apologize, Doctor T'soni." The Israeli Prime Minister nearly cackles, "When I heard you were sending me two soldiers, I thought it was a slap in the face. But those two have broken the enemy lines and routed every unit that they have come in contact with. Your tech, Unna'Koris? Her aerial reconnaissance is invaluable. Our casualties are minimal at best. This war might be over by the end of the day."

"Let us hope so." I coolly reply, unable to force myself to watch the same images he sees. I have seen enough death.

Next I get Bakara and call humanitarian societies.

President of the Red Crescent assures me that he and the Leader of the Red Cross will coordinate to ensure that the second the fighting stops they will begin air drops and set up medical stations. Guarded by our forces, supplied with the medigel we've been manufacturing around the clock ever since the factories in Japan came online three days ago. I doubt there will be enough.

President Reegan and General Secretary Gorbechov assure me they are ready to broker a peace agreement as soon as the fighting stops. I urge them to show mercy to their fallen brothers, but I am not convinced they believe me.

Now I am running out of things to do. I cannot allow myself to dwell on the destruction still being wrought on the ground a world away. I step outside into the Australian sunlight to check on the dextros green houses. I put on my new sunhat, a gift from PM of Australia's wife. It is still warm, but I remind myself it is cooler then the heat of battle.

The turian and quarian workers assure me that the plants are growing well, and we have a quick celebration of chilled water. Now our allies will not starve. The volus gardener joins in the celebration, but his laughter is strained. We are running low on amonia canisters, and he has refused to allow us to try to manufactor new ones.

"I will die along with the rest of my people." He wheezes. " I am only grateful that I was allowed to spend my last days in peace. When you find the vol-clan, protect them, Dr. T'soni. We are not warriors."

"I swear I will do everything in my power to keep your people safe." I promise him, kneeling down and stroking his suit.

"Thank you. Now if you will excuse me, I must water the flowers. They are so lovely."

He doesn't see the tears that leak down my face. I don't even know his name, but he is the last of his kind. The batarians I talk to are no less fatalistic.

"We're having a baby." The female explains, "Our children will live long enough to see Kar'Shan. Perhaps they can act as spies for the cause."

"Tell the admiral if our Relays must be sacrificed for his plan, we understand." The male says, his four eyes boring into mine. "The Hegemony will not listen I fear. If you can doctor, save our people. But do what must be done. Victory at any price."

"If Thessia must burn for the Reapers to be defeated, it will." I tell him. I mean it too, and it frightens me. No wonder Sean can sacrifice his fellow man. I would build a funeral pyre out of my homeworld if only the Reapers could be stopped and a bare handful saved.

This is what we are reduced to. Brutes, animals. Willing to sacrifice our children so that our foes will be defeated. Willing to kill our fellow beings if they will hinder us. We are trying to send an entire world, all of humanity, into the grinder. We do not advance their technology so they can live longer lives through better medical care, so they can settle new worlds and experiance new hopes. We come to turn them into an army, a weapon with a single goal.

Again, I run. When the time comes, will I be willing to sacrifice myself?

My wanderings take me back up to the Captains Quarters. I don't know why I settled on here. It contains memories that are bitter sweet. The touch of a long dead lover. The hint of the smell of a dead man. The possessions of a martyr. Idly, I began to work on finishing my plans for a new Relay network. I know that I have years to go before I can even begin to implement this, plans for a Helium-3 Fuel plant on Luna have not yet been finished, but it's something to do. Another way to hide.

The comm chimed, "Liara, it's Sean. Hostilities are over for the day. Can I come up and talk for a few minutes?"

"Yes of course, I'm just working on plans for the Relay network."

"Excellent, I'll want to hear about it."

In moments he strode in, resplendent in his newly polished armor. He wore it everywhere I noticed, I hadn't seen him without it even once. When we flew in a Learjet to Switzerland, he wore his amor. When we ate dinner with the leaders of NATO and the Warsaw Pact, he wore his armor. In fact, I was fairly certain he slept in it. It was always well cared for, but it spoke of the same hiding I did. Sean was just more honest about it.

"So what's this about a Relay network?" He asked, standing at attention before me. But his eyes are sunken, and his youthful face drawn and careworn.

I waved him to a chair. "Sit down, relax. You've had enough stress today."

"Thanks." He sits and slides over next to me, intent on my screen. "Show me."

"These are a list of systems that will be charted in the next 150 years." I explain to him, "The ones charted by the Systems Alliance should be safe four our expansion. We can also build a network out to the traverse, hidden from the eyes of the Citadel Council and the Reapers. Once we have our network established, we start building into dark space between Council systems. If we stay away from FTL lanes, no one will ever find a lone relay or space station hidden between the stars. Using stealth ships, we can spy on the Council, recruit allies. Then when the time is right, we can strike at the Reapers then disappear back to the void."

"That's brilliant Liara!" Sean exclaims, "That will work even better then what I had in mind. We could set up a network that the Reapers could never hope to find."

I nod to him gratefully, glad to have something else to talk about. "Of course it will be years before we can develop our own Relays. Glyph projects that it will be 50 years before we will be ready to construct the first one."

"If we ever get there." Sean sighs, "The Brotherhood isn't caving yet. They've withdrawn to behind their own lines. Tomorrow I'm conferencing with the other regional powers. Israel is pushing to attack. Jordan is resisting any efforts to go on the offensive, and Egypt has erupted in civil war. I don't know what to do."

Biting my lip, I struggle to meet his eyes. "Was it that bad?"

"It could have been worse, but I don't know how. Lamentations accepted the surrender of two Iranian battalions, but then Palestinian forces started firing on the prisoners. Lamentations managed to get most of the prisoners into Israeli custody, but I don't think we'll have many more. No one surrendered to Gargo. I don't think he would have listened if they did."

I force myself to ask, "How many casualties?"

"Unknown. The Israeli's suffered a few dozen, but the Brotherhood? EDI estimates more than 4,000 today alone. They didn't have anything that could even slow us down. The only reason more aren't dead is with only two operatives we have a limited kill zone."

He rests his head in his hands and starts to weep. "What can I do Liara? Humanity must be united. I can't pass this off to someone else, these are my people, my responsibility. By my orders, 4000 mothers now mourn their sons. Countless orphans have been created. And an entire region has been alienated. I've seen how these people fight. They could have been our strongest allies. With this much blood spilled, they may never join us. What have I done?"

I stand and kneel at his side, wrapping my arms around him as his body shudders with grief. "You did what you had to do. Think of how many mother's in Israel will not have to bury their children. How many fathers can still embrace their offspring. How many homes have been saved. We cannot count the fallen. We must only number those spared."

"Five hundred forty three."

I freeze. I know what this number means.

"We five hundred forty three. One hundred thirty six humans. Ninety eight asari. Seventy three turians. Seventy one quarians. Sixty four salarians. Fifty four krogan. Twelve geth primes, thirty one independent programs. Two batarians. One volus, who should be dead by next month. And of course, our Lady Normandy, EDI. That's how many we saved. Out of trillions, we have four hundred seventy nine. "

"We can save so many more." I whisper, my own cheeks now wet with tears.

"Yeah. We can. And to do that, I killed 4000 today. Tomorrow, I'll kill ten times that if I have to. A hundred times. However many it takes to ensure that humanity, that the galaxy, endures."

I suddenly remember the conversation I had with the batarians yesterday. "You counted wrong. We saved four hundred eighty."

He looks up at me, confused. "What, a stowaway?"

"No. The female batarian is pregnant. We saved four hundred eighty."

We both break down weeping again, laughing as we cry. Sean is smiling, the first real smile I think I've seen from him. It is a smile of pure joy.

"One more. That's why we fight, isn't it?" He whispers, now holding me as tightly as I hold him.

"So there will be new life." I agree, "So that our children can have the hope we sacrificed."

Sean starts to pull away. "I should go. There's sure to be incidences in the night."

I pull him back to me. "No. Don't go." I urge, swallowing, trying to find my courage.

He's confused, lost as I am, unsure of why I ask him to stay. But my blood is rushing. With hope, I remember something I once promised Shepard. That we would have lots of little blue children. I will never bear his child. But I can name one after him.

"Stay with me tonight." I plead, "Don't leave me alone."

I fear he will be reluctant at best, at worse brush me off and insist we stay professional.

For a moment, I'm certain he will leave.

"Fuck it."

His embrace is fierce, his kiss ravenous. Mine isn't much different. Armor is left on the floor, and our love making is wild and desperate. It comes from need, hunger, desire. From lonlieness and pain long born. It isn't because we are in love, or because it is each other we envision in our minds. He calls the name of a woman I have never heard of, and I half wonder if she was asari. I cry out for Shepard, for my lost captain dead for ten years. We rake and claw at each other, desperate to remember what it means to be truly alive.

We meld. I see everything Sean is. He sees everything I am. We are completely naked before each other, stripped of all lies and pretenses. We are one.

I see a man beaten, nearly broken. His mind and spirit are old and weary, his body young and virile. But he has not been broken yet. Inside is strength yet, courage flowing from a fount that should have long ago dried up. I see the chains of a trillion dead souls dragging at his feat, the weight of an entire galaxy upon his shoulders. But he will not bend, he will not yield. He will not pass this burden to another, nor will he ask another to share it. It is his to bear, and he will do so until it is taken from him.

I have not seen anything so beautiful since my last night with Shepard.

I pray to the Goddess that whatever Sean sees, he is not ashamed to lie with such a coward who hides behind others. I pray he does not reject me.

_Authors Note:_

_I hope that counts as a "fight scene." _


End file.
